Month’s Reviews | September 2009

This month the following teas were reviewed in the Tea Colleciton

• Emeyu Organic Jasmine
• Sainsbury’s Jasmine Green Tea
• Canton Tea Co. Green Tea
• Basilur Tea Citrus Tea/Green Tea
• Canton Tea Co. Red Tea

New Vitao – Rooibos and Pear

New iced teas keep on popping up on the international market all the time. I finally got the chance to try one of the newer flavors of Nestea Vitao – rooibos with pear. I have a 1,5 liter bottle, so I could really get familiar with this drink. Unlike the somewhat failed attempts with Lipton Red and White Teas this one has a better composition and is far more enjoyable.

The beverage as an authentic pear aroma and it’s well balanced and not overwhelming. It gives this drink a tropical feel. The flavor it a little bit sour, just enough to be a thirst quencher. It might not feel that satisfactory to drink, because the sweetness is not at all intense, but if you like something refreshing this is a very good option. As far as I’m informed this flavor is available in Sweden and in Latvia.

 

Guide to Chinese Red Teas

Chinese Red Tea (Hong Cha) is known as Black Tea in the western world, but is also referred to as Congou by the international tea trade business. It’s easy to get confused, because Red Tea for us means Rooibos Tea from Africa and black tea in China is Pu-erh. To get around this problem it’s easiest to call Red Tea ‘Chinese Red Tea’, 

Qi Men Hong (Keemun) - ”Red tea from Qi Men” a tea from Qimen County of Huangshan City, in Anhui province. Considered the elite of Chinese Red Teas. Appears in various grades for example Gongfu, Mao Feng, Hao Ya, Ji Hong. This tea has winey and fruity taste with hints of pine and plum and cheaper grades can be bitter. It was first produced in 1875 and was the first red tea that came from Anhui. It became popular in England as an ingredient of the English Breakfast blend.

Dian Hong (Yunnan) – “South Cloud” is sometimes considered a gourmet tea, because higher grades contain ‘golden tips’ the fine tea buds. It comes in three grades Broken Yunnan – a cheap tea used for blending with fewest amount of buds, has a strong flavor. Yunnan Gold has a milder flavor, with some brassiness and a red liquor. Yunnan Pure Gold is considered the best of Dian Hong and consists only of golden tips covered with fine hairs, which are much lighter in color then the previous grades and produce a finer, sweeter liquor. Produced of course in Yunnan province.

Lapsang Souchong – “Smoky Sub-variety” very different from other black teas, refered to as smoked tea because it’s leaves are smoke-dried over pinewood fires. Initially the leaves were dried over fire when tea damand was high, as it would speed up the drying process. It’s has a strong and smoky flavor and aroma characteristic to campfires or tobacco. This tea comes from the Wuyi region of Fujian province.

Jin Hou – “Golden Monkey” from Fujian province. A celebrated tea of higher status, as consists of buds, but also has a specific appearace – tea leaves are part yellow part brown. According to a legend this tea would grow in inaccessible places, so monks trained monkeys to pick the leaves. The flavor of this tea is considered light, with honey notes and no astringency. Golden Monkey is the equivalent of Silver Needle among white teas.

Ying De Hong - ”Red tea from Ying De” a tea from Guangdong province, with a cocoa-like aroma. Its best grade is called Ying Hong NO.9. This tea was first introduced in 1959. The rolled leaves sometimes resemble oolong teas, as they have a clumpy, curled appearance.

Ju Qiu Mei Hong  - produced in Hang Zhou in Zhejiang province, is a rare gong fu tea created during the 50s, has tight, thin and long leaves. has a dark color and a deep, rich and sweet aroma.

Ching Wo – a tea from Southern China, Fujian. It’s a deep, full-bodied tea with coppery infusion and light flavor and aroma.

Ping Suey – “Ice Water” a tea from Zhejiang province

Zao Bei Jian – from Sichuan province with a reddish liquor and mellow, clean flavor

 

Guides – Chinese White | Chinese Yellow | Chinese Oolong | Japanese Tea

Did you know

Green and white teas were unknown to the eastern world for a long time, because China originally only exported black tea (red tea in China). Black tea was considered lesser quality and was not desired by the Chinese, thus they were sending the tea abroad.

Lipton Red and White Ice Teas

With the rising popularity of tea in the western world, beside our classic black iced tea new tea types started finding their way to the bottle. Among many brands the known and recognized Lipton has brought Red and White Ice Teas to supermarket shelves. I have tasted them both and here is what I think.

Lipton White Tea has the smell resembling sour cabbage – not very pleasant at all. The flavor is much better then the smell, delicate, just like white tea should be, but much more like jasmine scented green tea. It’s not a surprise, since the content lists 0,12% green tea extract and 0,02% white tea extract. At this point I can’t help felling a bit cheated. It’s not very sweet, but rather sour , like lemonade with that slight hint of the mellow white tea taste.

Lipton Red Tea on the other hand is more like a tropical fruit lemonade and resembles tea a lot less then the White variant. The tea content here is 0,1% black tea, 0,05% rooibos and 0,05% red tea. The aroma here is much more friendly – fruity and exotic and the flavor is similar to the previous tea – sour and not too sweet. I don’t feel like this one is related to tea at all.

To sum up the White Tea is more authentic to the tea actual tea, but the Red Tea is much more pleasant to drink. Generally, if you’re on the go, they are ok (a better choice then Coca-Cola), but I’m not at all satisfied with the quality and that the content of actual tea in those is ridiculously low.  

Tea Types

It’s always good to know some basics of tea, so for starters I thought I would introduce different tea types. Generally we can divide tea types into two groups – tea that contains tea plant leaves and tea that does not.

Tea with tea leaves

These tea types are a result of how the leaves of the tea plant (camellia sinensis) have been processed. This process is called oxidation (sometimes refered to as fermentation) which is a chemical reaction that occurred then the tea leaves are picked and start to wither. Depending on how long the leaves have been exposed to it we can classify the following

White Tea – fast-dried and does not undergo oxidation, made of young tea leaves (often contains young tea buds and which are covered by fine, silky, white hairs) and has a low caffeine content, because the leaves have been dried quickly the chlorophyll in them was not broken down, thus the green color and grassy flavour of the infusion

Yellow Tea – does not undergo oxidation, but unlike green tea the chlorophyll in the leaves is broken down during processing, so the color becomes yellow and the flavor less grassy, usually harvested before green teas and always sold as whole leaf tea, yellow tea is quite rare in comparison to the other tea types

Green tea – goes through a minimal oxidation process and is quickly dried, the leaves are often cut and ground, the infusion has a mild flavor and is rich in antioxidants

Oolong Tea – semi-oxidized, exposed to different levels of oxidation (ranging between 10 – 70%), usually falls between black and green teas

Black tea – undergoes the oxidation process that changes the leaves’ color from green to black, thus has stronger and richer flavour, higher caffeine content and lower antioxidant content

Post-fermented tea – green tea which is allowed to age for several months to several years and exposed to humidity and oxygen, the ageing process alters the taste and smell of the infusion to a large degree, most recognized class of post-fermented teas is Pu-erh

Tea without tea leaves

Red tea (aka. rooibos tea) – tea of South African origin, made of a plant in the aspalathus genus, the specific red-brown color is acquired in the process of oxidation, since rooibos is a herbal tea it contains no caffeine

Herbal tea (aka. tisane) – made of anything other then tea leaves, with no caffeine, often contains a mix of dried flowers, seeds, berries, roots and other herbs (like rose petals, peppermint etc.)

Other types we can come across are Flavored Teas which are often a mix between tea leaves and herbal additives or tea leaves that have been soaked in natural or artificial flavors/oils